Family
Even while thoughts of war and peace occupied the minds of the class of 1903, they still had their domestic affairs to deal with as well. Most had had any children they were to have by the early 1920s. With children came the tasks of raising the family, making sure they were well schooled, nursing them through illnesses such as the flu epidemic of 1918 and choosing colleges or not, all while either staying at home or maintaining an outside career, as well as keeping up with club and church work. "Every "robin" seems to have had some special theme, suffrage, war work, hobbies, and now it seems to be children and husbands," wrote Alice Dunning Flick in 1924.70 Indeed, talk of family overtook most other subjects for quite some time.
Even within the letters of family, the influence of their college education seemed omnipresent. It particularly came to the forefront in times of adversity. During the 1920s, several of the 1903 women lost their husbands. Now they had to learn skills which they never had to master in the past. Florence Carmine Bankard wrote that after her husband's 1918 death:
I am glad my husband was painstaking with me and talked over business matters with me and for me. I have these things now to manage for myself and in thesetimes, particularly, when in best we are all, more or less unstable and the income tax a complex puzzle - it is not easy for the inexperienced to maintain results and even go farther on to a little enterprise. I am trying to measure up to my responsibilities.71
Florence Carmine did not pine away after her husband's death, but managed to travel all over the world: her letters and those of others place her in Africa, Australia, Europe, and Asia during the years in which these letters were written. Mabel Day Parker, whose husband died suddenly while playing in the Sunday School orchestra one day, also learned to cope. She wrote:
Unlike the other girls who have been left widows, I have three daughters to whom I must be both father and mother ... After Mr. Parker died, I learned to drive the automobile, a thing I had always intended to do and never gotten right down to it. I am so sorry that I never learned to drive before, because I enjoy it so much.72
Others took in family members: sisters, brothers, and in-laws, as well as their sons and daughters. These step-families often took considerable rearrangement of the household as well, but
as Anna Slease wrote of her nieces and nephews upon their mother's death, "Many of our friends thought we should separate the children but my parents and I loved them and felt they ought to grow together as a family."73 When Emilie Doetsch's brother died, leaving five children fatherless, she and her sisters did not want to give up his lithography business, which could provide jobs for his children, who were still too young to take it over.
We decided that Elsa should devote what time she could spare from her own profession of Certified Public Accountant to my brother's business, that I should go to Washington, and that Louisa should continue in her position with The Baltimore News, that Elsa's services to the business would be free, but that we would divide all our other earnings in three equal parts.74
She and her sisters chose to undertake a difficult path rather than give up any source of income in the difficult economic times of the 1930s.
Career
Emilie Doetsch was one of the few members of the class of 1903 who chose to undertake a career other than teaching, and even before the hard times of the depression. Nevertheless, many of her classmates chose to follow a professional path, rather than marry; some even chose both.
As more women attended college ... many of them began to think about building careers, with or without marriage. Not only did college professors, particularly at women's colleges, provide impressive role models of working women, but many of them also told their students that as educated women the students had an obligation to contribute to society through their work.75
Thus, Claire Ackerman Vliet asked herself if there was not something more she could be doing in the face of the teacher shortage during the war, as befitted her college training. Thus Lyda Norris Bailey founded Miss Norris' School, a "most attractive out-of-door school"76 in Pennsylvania, which she ran for several years before moving on to teach at the Spence School in New York. Thus Letitia Ricaud decided to give up teaching at elite boarding schools and live out a fantasy in which "after gaining some experience, I should like to give the fruit of it to some poorer school with few advantages"77; she joined the staff of a mission school in North Carolina. Thus Mollie Cullom Walker wrote a book entitled "Programs, Plays, Songs and Stories," which sold ten thousand copies in two editions in the four years after its publication, and which she intended for those who work with children.78 Even those who were not paid attempted to educate, as Claire Ackerman Vliet wrote:
One of the things I have been doing since last I wrote has been talking before Parent-Teacher Associations, and I have tried hard to drive home the thought that tolerance and respect for the customs and tradition of other people is one of the important things to teach our own children.79
All of these women felt the call to a form of public service, as well as a career, or to integrate
the two. This was strongly encouraged by the women's college education of their day: if one was to work, one might as well work at something worthwhile.
Adult Education
Though many pursued careers, only a few mentioned pursuing post-graduate education. Nina Caspari Oglenby pursued an MA at the University of Rochester, but had to abandon it to teach during the depression. Thyra Crawford Rees took courses at the University of Mexico in the summer of 1922. Martha Enochs reported:
I had done some studying in an effort to keep abreast of the times, devoting most of my reading to World Affairs. The high point to this effort was a summer at the Williamstown Institute of Politics in 1926, an experience almost too far in the past to mention in this 1930 Robin except that it has proved a stimulus for much reading since then and provides a goal for a second adventure in the future.80
Helen Hendrix Mohr told of simply having joined a French class at the Women's' University Club, "and it was great fun to think in collegiate terms again."81
Hobbies
In addition to careers and families, to club work and war work and education, many found time to entertain hobbies as well. Reading, walking, horseback riding, gardening and other pastimes were all mentioned by 1903 women. Mabel Day Parker writes that "I've gone back to my childhood and am collecting stamps. I started out to help Ruth with her stamp book and became so interested, I went on and now I have over 3000."82 Rosalie Pendleton Scully took up "the coloring of photographs with oil paints", first as a hobby and soon professionally. 83 Florence Carmine Bankard admitted that "Yes, I am a student of Contract [bridge], I have respect for it and like to be able to take a hand. It improves one's ability to concentrate and one's memory." In the same letter, she writes that she has taken up riding a "byke."84 Daisy Murphy Matthews and Milly Benson Bielaski and their husbands played 'duplicate auction bridge."85 Milly Benson, meanwhile, boasted of her flowers, including a picture of "Bob and some of my peonies, mainly for the peonies."86 Nancy Nulton wrote that her hobby was ferns, and Helen Hendrix Mohr took up golf and tennis. A number of the classmates enjoyed both gardening and the outdoors. Those with land were endlessly expansive on the joys of their orchards and gardens, and on the lakes, mountains, and forests they could see beyond their own property.
Travel
Many of the members of the class of 1903 spent their spare time traveling. Thyra Crawford writes of climbing "mountains galore" in Colorado, and encloses a photo (absent from the collection) of herself halfway up Pike's Peak, though she admits that she "didn't hike there, needless to say, but made the ascent by auto in tame tourist style."87 Millie Benson Bielaski wrote "We went to the Grand Canyon and I rode a mule down the trail! I'm afraid I would never have done it, only I was afraid I'd completely lose my standing with my youngest boy, if I confessed I'd lost my nerve."88
Others ventured outside of the country, on their own business or their husband's, or else simply for pleasure. Lottie Magee writes of her trip to Panama on behalf of the Red Cross. Margaret Hukill Taylor and her husband went on a cruise to the West Indies, of which she writes:
I think the most thrilling trip was over the narrow gage R.R. from La Guiana up to Caracas, 6500 ft. in straight miles or 23 winding ones, on a road shored up along the mountain side, and you spend your time shaking hands with the engineer from the rear platform. Such contortions and figure eights, I never before experienced on a train, nor ever saw an engine cross over its own rear car.89
Thyra Crawford Rees went on an educational "Virgilian cruise" to Rome and Greece.90 Helen Davenport took a seven month sabbatical to Greece and the Holy Land.91 Florence Carmine Bankard wrote three extensive descriptions of her travels, a 1926 letter about Asia, a 1930 letter about Australia, and a 1936 letter about Africa:
But the great adventure began in the Transvaal. It is picnic fare, a campfire, a folding cot, a hurricane lamp, a bench and a basin and - the glamour of the veld! The beauty of a live free wild creature is a thing in itself It takes 200 years for an elephant to reach its prime and only a few seconds to kill it - not too soon they are now taking some steps to put an end to wanton killing. If the rivers are too deep to ford, one crosses by pontoon, or at any rate, the best way one can. There are crocodiles like tree stumps along the banks and hippopotami in the waters. We saw wildebeeste, zebra, impala, hyenas, baboons, warthogs, ostrich, lovely waterbuck, black face monkeys, wild dingo, giraffe, kudu with the great horns, sable antelope, jackals, and lots more I can't stop to tell about. Sleep (if you can) on one of those nights where you hear the lion calling to his mate, the hyena's cry, or the shriek of some defenseless buck caught unawares, the bark of the zebra, or maybe the cry of the night hawk.92
Florence Carmine Bankard was an eloquent writer as well as a globe-trotter: her accounts of
her trips must have been both fascinating and inspiring to those of her classmates who did not roam as far as she did. However, she was not the only adventurous one in the group. Perhaps even more dramatic than her African safari was Millie Benson Bielaski's trip to Mexico:
Had quite a thrilling and dreadful time. We were held up by bandits - out in the hills and they kept Bruce for ransom and started me back to Mexico City to get the ransom. For three days I had no word and supposed they had killed Bruce but at the end of that time he escaped in a most unbelievable fashion. But then the Mexican Government stepped in and put about 10 dirty looking creatures on our trail. They shadowed us everywhere so that you began to feel like a real criminal. Finally in desperation we went to our Embassy to stay and there they couldn't follow. After much red tape we got back in the good old States and we were certainly joyous.93
The image of the weak woman was long gone, replaced by a swashbuckling world traveler.
The Depression
The stock market crash of 1929 curtailed the travels of some; it was devastating to many members of Goucher's class of 1903, just as it was to the rest of the country. Nevertheless, the first mention of the economic downturn occurred in Frances Doherty's oblique reference in 1930 to "the political difficulties of the time."94 There is a gap in letters between March of 1931 and June of 1934, which might also be part of the reason for the overall paucity of references. The next mention was that of Mabel Day Parker, who said that "Of course, like every one else, we have been very much affected by the trying economic conditions, but not to the terrible extent of many,"95 After that letter, others seemed to be more forthcoming about their financial problems; it is reasonable to assume that some of the missing letters also made mention of the trying times, since Parker's letter seemed to be agreeing with a previous statement absent from this collection.
Mary Abercrombie Verner's letter suggested that the effects of the depression reached Canada as well the entirety of the United States, when she wrote "We are seriously thinking of going to [California] to grow flowers. If anything happens that he is out of a job here, that is what we shall do."96 Nina Caspari Oglenby compared her life at the time of her previous letter to her current state, writing that "I was sitting on 'top of the world' then, so to speak and the future seemed very bright and easy. Since then the depression has hit hard and in order to help my 2 children through college I have now taught 5 yrs!"97 In the attitude typical of these strong women, Margaret Hukill Taylor wrote that "we still exist and are carrying on in spite of eight years with 'no price for grapes'. 'Hope springs eternal' and we dig a little deeper. In spite of it all, people have courage and are cheerful."98 It may have been some comfort to the class of 1903 that they had marketable skills, and that there were positions that they could fill because of their college education.
The depression caused many to dig deeper into their pockets, and many women who had not previously worked to seek jobs. Nevertheless, the crisis set back the cause of women's rights as well. Males accused women of stealing men's jobs. The government attempted to set new restrictions on working women, proposing bills to ban employers from hiring married women, or prohibiting more than one member of a family to work in civil service; the former bills were defeated, while the latter was enacted for several years. "During the depression years it has been made increasingly evident that the world thinks a woman entitled to a position only so long as no man wants it - or would take it at the same salary."99 Emilie Doetsch described her experience in law:
It was a hard uphill fight, inasmuch as the depression was just setting in, and even lawyers of established reputation were feeling the pinch. I shall never cease to be amused at the irony implicit in a letter that was sent to all the women members of the bar as well as to the men by the Baltimore Bar Association asking them to contribute to a fund to aid needy lawyers, in the face of the fact that the Bar Association had never admitted women to its membership.100
As well, gender wasn't the only count against those members of the class of 1903 who were seeking jobs in the wake of the depression. The class members were by that time all around fifty years old. Mary Taylor Reynolds described her experience in job- hunting:
At fifty I rejoiced at the perspective I had on life and felt I was just at the understanding age and ready for life. Since then I spent ten dollars of hard earned money for an interview at a Business Clinic in New York to be told that I was fit for no gainful occupation in the city. I made that money on a temporary job at the Medical Center during that awful blizzard of 1935. During that summer I changed my base of operations and went to Summer School and studied Library Science and Typing hoping to get into something in Washington. Being beyond the age of Civil Service I tried openings not under it but my life expectancy was not great enough to hope to get to my numbers on the various files for they ranged from #37542 to #55025.101
The Next Generation
Though age had its disadvantages in some respects, and there was no small amount of teasing about gray hair or weight gained, the majority of the members of the class of 1903 looked to each other for inspiration, remarking on the new and exciting things they were doing to keep themselves young: travel and reunions were always rejuvenating experiences. Some chose to look to their children for similar inspiration. Several sent their daughters to Goucher, and relived some of their own memories as their daughters went through school. They recounted to their former classmates the decisions involved in choosing whether their daughters did - or did not - attend their own alma mater. As well, they made mention of their children's activities while at the school. Nancy Nulton Larrick writes of preparing her daughter to enter Goucher in 1926:
I always knew I wanted Nancy to go to Goucher, and am perfectly delighted with our decision. The College is lovely to the daughter of Alumnae. Just think-there's Carrie Probst and Francis Conner to direct everything! Miss Bacon, De Welch just beam on any alumnae's daughters. The word "alumna" is magic - and even the maids seem especially interested in a daughter...I believe 1903 has more there at present than any other class.102
A later letter from Nancy Larrick was written from Vingolf Hall, at her daughter's own graduation. The classmates were always pleased to relive their college days through their daughters.
Others explained why their daughters weren't at Goucher, such as Louise Lawrence Miller, who said:
I know I am criticized by some for not sending Elizabeth to Goucher, and I realize very fully that I am missing many thrills by her not being there. But her heart was set on Wellesley so why should I not allow her to have her desire gratified. Then, too, from a practical standpoint there are advantages to be gained by going far enough away from home to see how the other fellow views life, to say nothing of the advantages of Campus life. 103
Even these Goucher enthusiasts recognized that it was not the school for everyone. Some admitted that they did not feel that their daughters were college material. Others merely felt that the sprawling green campuses of the other women's schools were more appealing. Nevertheless, all recognized that the phenomenon of women's colleges was no longer uncommon. In 1900, 85,000 women had been enrolled in higher education, composing 2.8% of all women between the ages of eighteen and twenty-one. In 1920, the percentage was 7.6%. Almost all of the women of 1903 expected their daughters to attend college, whereas the women of their generation had fought for the opportunity, and often been stigmatized because of it.
Goucher's Campus
The city campus did have much to do with the choice of some not to send their daughters to Goucher, and the members of the class of 1903 were not shy in stating their opinions on their beloved buildings, nor on the new land purchased for the school in the country north of Baltimore. There are many mentions of the new campus, and suggestions as to what to do with the buildings of the old campus. Frances Doherty remarked "How delightful it will be for Goucher to have a beautiful campus!...I hope Goucher Hall will be retained for College use- or set up again in the new place if that is possible."104 Daisy Murphy Matthews agreed, saying that "The idea of a larger and more beautiful Goucher is very splendid and I do want to see it grow. Yet unless some of the old familiarity is retained I am afraid it will never be the same to us 'old graduates'. Frances Doherty has the right idea when she expresses the hope that Goucher Hall can be kept as it is for what is..."105 Eda Briggs Frost asked "Could it be saved as a city college club house, as Goucher Museum or Library, or could it be transferred to the new site?"106 Edith Powell Pringle reported:
While Robin has been here, Dr. Guth has gone, and I keep wondering if it will hinder the moving program. When college opened last fall, he told the entering class, he hoped they could graduate from the new campus. I am so anxious for the moving, as conditions are bad where they are. I have been glad to have my girls in Goucher, but would have been much more pleased if they could have been out of the city. 107
Technology
Just as they were all for change for the college, the women of the class of 1903 were similarly optimistic about new technology. "I feel that I owe it to all of you to sing the praises of electric fireless cookers, electric washing machines, and gas-heated houses," wrote the ever-busy Emilie Doetsch. On gas heating, she continued:
It costs more to heat a house that way, but when I think of the labor saved, the cleanliness, the comfort and convenience, I can't help hoping that the time will come when all houses will be heated with gas. It is even more convenient than oil, because you have to store the oil, whereas the gas is always there, ready to be turned on or off whenever you please.108
It is interesting to note which of these innovations failed and which succeeded. Ruth Cowan counts the electric fireless cooker among other failed machines such as the waterless toilet, central vacuum-cleaning, the gas refrigerator, and the individual household incinerator: ideas which were sensible in theory, but died out due to any number of social, economic, and practical reasons.109 Charlotte Jones reported that: "the workmen have just finished covering our wood shingle sidewalls with... '[brand name unintelligible] Asbestos Cement Siding.' If there is anything in the length of a name, I am sure, our paint and upkeep problems are solved forever."110 Florence Carmine Bankard remarked that her "really latest hobby is a byke ... Its the last word for reducing and keeping fit. In the old days my bicycle had a hand brake. Now the new fangled byke is stream lined, mind you, and works the brake by the pedal."111 Apparently, the trend has reversed yet again, as late twentieth century bicycles for adults have hand brakes.
The Future
Some were as expansive on the trends of the future as the trends of the past. "Surely there are better days ahead, community kitchens, cooperative nurseries, outdoor vocational classes for older children, and a chance for even a mother to develop her particular gifts"112 wrote Clara Robinson Hand in 1919. Claire Ackerman Vliet predicted that there would be a change in the nature of the relationship between an employer and her household help:
Personally, I believe that as far as the North is concerned, the situation will have to become even more acute before it can become better, probably to the point of practically every woman being compelled to do her own work for as long a time as it shall take us to learn a few much-needed lessons.113
Others spoke about the futures of their classmates, rather than societal trends. Letitia Ricaud expounded:
"Round Robin" is not only a sweet link with the past, but a pledge for the future, most of our letters growing more rather than less personal and intimate as the years go by. As our enthusiasm for our faithful bird seems enduring, why may not his flights go on until he will bring us news of the happy homes established by the daughters of "1903"! And how the rest of us who are not mothers may have realized other dreams of a "peaceful hermitage" or of greater ambition, or of still greater spheres of service!114
The members of the class of 1903 were positive about their abilities to achieve great things, and perhaps even more positive about the abilities of their classmates. They were ceaselessly flattering of each other, though never insincerely. Each seemed genuinely mpressed at what her old friends had achieved.
Few of the Round Robin letters carry much mention of college days: by the time volume three began, it had been twenty years since these women had entered college. What does get mention makes sense: they write about what is different from their Goucher years, relating the present to the past. This mostly takes the form of "What surprises me most in the letters is that Mollie Cullom, the youngest in our class has a son at Princeton and that Hattie Taylor the smallest of us all has a son six feet tall."115 Of Goucher itself, the things that are mentioned are beloved professors or house matrons, or the buildings themselves. These are the things that were around still twenty and thirty years later, so that the changes could be observed by those who attended the yearly reunions.
Most importantly, the 1903 women wrote about the ways in which their college career had enriched their lives. They wrote about the careers their education had prepared them for, and about life's unexpected turns, with which Goucher had taught them how to deal. They wrote about travels, classes, clubs and other experiences which were made possible, directly or indirectly, by the existence of women's colleges, and the societal roads paved by those institutions. As Helen Davenport wrote, "Perhaps we did learn at Goucher a way of making life glow richly as a stone of many facets, and so keeping youthful in spirit and in mind."116
The letters written by Goucher's class of 1903 were infused with indomitable spirit and the knowledge that there were innumerable paths for each woman yet to walk down.
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Last Updated 11/1/99.
Copyright 1999.